10 Feb 2014

Botswana Sports Volunteers Movement (SVM) public relations officer (PRO), Thabo Osekeng says he appreciates the response of volunteers in Francistown towards the 2014 Africa Youth Games scheduled for Gaborone in May.

In an interview, Osekeng said more than 300 volunteers applied by the closing date of November last year.Osekeng, who said the movement was on a countrywide screening programme, confirming the interest and pre-accrediting the volunteers, noted that they would continue to register volunteers who showed interest despite that the closing date has passed.

He said so far they had visited Lobatse, Molepolole, Serowe and Selebi Phikwe. He added that in all the areas, more volunteers showed interest and that the SVM had decided to extend the application process.

He said the volunteers movement target was to have 2 000 volunteers, but that they had exceeded the target. Osekeng, however, said in Lobatse, some volunteers requested to be remunerated.

He said after Francistown, they will visit Tsabong and Maun while the Gaborone session will run for three days starting on February 14. He noted that the three days will also accommodate volunteers outside Gaborone who did not make it when they toured.

As part of preparing for the games, Osekeng said they will train trainers who were identified at the regions. They will in turn go back to their regions and train other volunteers.

The games are slated for May 22-31 and 54 countries are expected to participate. According to the games’ website, there will be 21 sporting codes and the website also gives volunteers the opportunity to register online as well. ENDS